Radiation crosslinking of poly(vinyl chloride)

✍ Scribed by W. A. Salmon; L. D. Loan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1972
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 474 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/app.1972.070160312

✦ Synopsis

The mechanism of the electron irradiation crosslinking of poly(viny1 chloride) (PVC) with polyfunctional acrylic monomers has been investigated as Bart of a program to develop an insulation for distributing-frame wire. These monomers were found to undergo rapid polymerization to form a rigid, three-dimensional network onto which PVC was grafted. Polyfunctionality was necessary for crossliking to occur, since butyl methacrylate, containing only a single unsaturated bond, did not crosslink readily. On the other hand, trimethylolpropane triacrylate and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, each containing three unsaturated groups, gave extremely rapid crosslinkhg. Trimethylolpropane triacrylate showed 40 times the radiation sensitivity of tetraethylene glycol dimethacrylate, a diunsaturated compound. The rate of disappearance of unsaturation was related inversely to the rate of gel formation. This was attributed to immobilization of unreacted pendant double bonds in the rigid crossliiked network. In the triunsaturated monomers, half the vinyl groups were left unreacted when all of the PVC was insoluble.